


Morpheus

by Rynn336



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cute, Erwin-centric, M/M, No Plot/Plotless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 14:11:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5788216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynn336/pseuds/Rynn336
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi can't understand what the hell he ever did to deserve this man's love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Morpheus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ally](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ally/gifts).



> A friend of mine pointed out to me that Erwin-centric fanfiction is virtually nonexistent, so I wrote this for her. It has zero plot, it's just a cute, short little one-shot thing.

Levi yawns as he stares at the ceiling of Erwin’s room, the moonlight spilling through the window too bright to sleep. One more half hour of paperwork for Erwin turned into an hour into two into six, and Levi’s starting to wonder if Erwin’s coming to bed at all.

He sighs and swings his legs over the edge of the bed, standing up. He might as well make sure Erwin’s still okay.

He tiptoes down the dark hallway toward Erwin’s office, wincing at every creak of a board beneath his feet. There’s something about this time of night, halfway in between yesterday and tomorrow, the utter silence of the effortless transition between the two like the silence of a well-oiled machine’s gears turning, that makes Levi loathe to make any noise. To be the source of any sort of sound in the silence would be almost a sin, it seems.

He carefully opens Erwin’s door and steps into the office, closing it with a soft click behind him.

Erwin’s fast asleep at his desk, his head pillowed on his arms and smears of blue-black ink staining his callused hands. His honey-gold hair tumbles in front of his face, and Levi knows that if he were to wake Erwin up right now, he’d drown in Erwin’s bleary, sleep-filled eyes, blossoming blue hibiscus, salty-sweet oceans for him to drink in and be swallowed by, to float in forever as he revels in the warmth of Erwin’s gaze.

But he doesn’t wake him up. Erwin is mortal when he’s asleep, and Levi’s amazed that he could ever deserve to be privy to such a sight. His features relax, the hard line of his jaw softening and the creases at the corners of his eyes and between his eyebrows smoothing out until his face takes on an almost childlike innocence, the corners of his mouth quirked up into a tiny, sleepy smile.

Levi’s always admired Erwin’s strength, his resilience. While Levi lives for the dead, for the souls of the friends who’ve left him behind to do their work, Erwin lives for the living. Maybe the casualties of war bother him at the end of an expedition, but he lives to keep everyone alive, to make life better for those who can make it through this, throwing any caution to the wind as he protects those he cares about and even those he doesn’t. He has a clear and set goal, and no matter what happens he always bounces back just as strong if not more so than before, ready to try again, something different this time, running eagerly to his office like a newly inspired poet to paper and a pen.

Awake, he’s like one of the old-world gods in those banned books of his, powerful and strong and larger-than-life, but when he’s with Levi he lets that go, allows himself to be merely a man, not a god, not even a commander. Just Erwin.

He’s not perfect, of course. Like right now, with ink streaked all over his hands and his hair messy and his full lips chapped and cracked with dehydration—Levi wonders if he’s had anything to drink at all since he started working on his paperwork yesterday—but such imperfections do nothing to mar his image. They improve him, dimming his spirit’s luminescence so that Levi can look at him and not feel as if he’s staring into the sun. He’s everything Levi’s not, and Levi can’t fathom why he would ever deserve this man’s love.

Erwin’s eyelids crinkle as he fights against wakefulness, but after a moment his cyan eyes blink open, his forehead creasing and the lines beside his eyes darkening once more. “Oh…hey, Lee,” he says through a yawn, his voice low and croaky from sleep. “Sorry, I know I’m late. I guess time just got away from me and I fell asleep.”

“That’s alright.”

Erwin stands up and stretches. “I guess I’ll come to bed now, if you’re here.”

Levi nods.

They head back to Erwin’s room together, their arms just barely brushing, and climb into bed, closing their eyes and letting sleep come to them.

“I love you,” Erwin says groggily, and Levi can hear his breathing even out, soft rustlings in the silence.

Levi knows that he doesn’t need to reply, so he doesn’t. Erwin already knows. 


End file.
